Arcane Lacquer Giveaway @ Lacquerheads of Oz

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I didn't want my last post to get too cluttered, but here's a thing I feel that you, my lovelies, should know about:

Lacquerheads of Oz are holding a giveaway of Arcane Lacquers and it's open internationally.

THIS IS HUGE! As you may have noticed in my post on Luna Madness, Arcanes are currently only available within Australia, and I only have mine because of my darling, sweet nail mail buddy. So get on it, lovelies, click on the above image to get your entries in! Go go go!

xo,

J.

Main Squeeze

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Another of my multitudinous Tryst Lacquers today -- Main Squeeze!

Main Squeeze is described as a blood orange jelly with white satin hexes and squares (in two sizes), plus orange iridescent mini glitters. In these photos, that description is pretty bang on, but in real life, the colour leans more coral than it appears here. I actually love it in photos and in person, but it tickles my coral-love bone more than my orange-love bone in reality. (That sounded awful, didn't it?) I should note that it's almost impossible to get the satin hexes out, and I'm not sure why (they aren't huge or anything). I think they just really like the sides of the bottle. Your only hope is to shake the bottle vigorously every nail or two, and I was too lazy for that. I think the polish looks lovely even without them.

Simple look tonight; started with My Vampire is Buff as the lightest, followed by Kalahari Kiss, followed by Sun Kissed, followed by blending Sun Kissed and Kalahari Kiss a bit with some Action. Doing circles with tiny brushes is a huge pain in the arse.

I am now going to continue my pic spam. These were more photogenic than some of the nails I've done recently, so I kind of went overboard.

And finally, a simple swatch of my other hand, with Main Squeeze on its own. This is more colour-accurate than the above (I think there was some attracting going on with the orange, er, oranges-- this isolates the polish better). Wouldn't it be cool if all my swatch photos turned out this good? Something was working well tonight...

Polishes used:

Tryst Lacquers - Main Squeeze

Cult Nails - Scandalous (1 coat as undies just for some added opacity, didn't change the colour)

OPI - My Vampire is Buff

China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss

Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed

Essie - Action

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter A-Peel (base coat), Glitter Food

NYC - In a New York Minute (top coat)

Hey, here's a fun fact for you: my left hand poses so much better than my right hand, which is tragic. Why? Because, in Grade 7, a kid named Ryan was teasing my friend Allie and keeping some book or other away from her and I went to punch him in the stomach for it, except I missed and hit his hip bone and broke something in my hand. It only occurred to me that I broke something many years later, when a nail tech was massaging my hand and asked if I ever broke it. I guess Grade 7 Jolène assumed that being unable to close her right hand for a whole month was standard post-punch process?

xo,

J.

Chalkboard Nails

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... Not as in the extremely talented nail blogger. As in nails that are meant to look chalkboard-ish.

Doing chalkboard nails was the idea of one of my lovelies over on Instagram. I regrettably haven't run very far with it, but it's a fun look for when you're feeling lazy!

This look began with two coats of Camelot (best black ever), followed by some sponging of Marble for the dust effect, then Filthy Rich for the chalk holder along the bottom. Text is done with Tempest, and the whole is coated in two thick coats of Matte About You.

On the subject of which -- you notice the dots that are distinctly whiter and sharper than the sponging? Those are weird calcifications in Matte About You. Has this happened to anybody else? I have no idea what they're doing but I strongly disapprove. In this case, they sort of blend in, but I've had them nearly ruin a manicure before. Time to consult Missy's informative Iron Polish post on matte topcoats and get myself a butter LONDON matte topper, I think!

Can anybody guess what the equation is? Any maths nerds out there? Show yourselves, ain't no reason to hide! I'll write it below in white text, highlight it and read if you're hopeless at maths like me:

The theory of general relativity as formulated by our good friend Einstein. :)

Polishes used:

A England - Camelot

Spa Ritual - Marble

Quo by Orly - Filthy Rich

Cult Nails - Tempest

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter A-Peel (base coat)

Essie - Matte About You (top coat)

I have some seriously awesome posts coming up in the next few days -- a W-themed mani, and another crack at paisley print, so I hope you'll look forward to those!

xo,

J.